There is a surf school somewhere on the Californian coastline where the instructors work hard to bring women’s surfing to a higher level. How do we, Hungarians, get into the picture and what does the surf school have to do with one of this week’s movie premieres? Our article reveals all of this.
 Izzy and Coco  |
Isabelle and Caroline are twins. They both graduated from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Isabelle started surfing at a very young age, she was only 8. She soon started participating in surf contests, too.
She was a student at UCSD when she thought she could teach girls how to surf. She loved two things in her life most: surfing and teaching. She established a surf school where only girls are taught how to surf.
So Surf Diva was created, which is renowned worldwide. The blockbuster Blue Crush has helped make them well-known, which opened in the United States of America about a year ago and it is about to open in Hungary in a few days.
But how do Hungarians come into the picture? The fullname of the girls are Isabelle and Caroline Tihanyi. Their last name says all. We asked Caroline (Coco) about the story behind their family and Surf Diva.
The story of their family:
 Izzy, head of the divas |
-Are your roots Hungarian? Your name, ‘Tihanyi‘ suggests so.
-Yes! Our roots are Hungarian but Izzy and I were born and raised in Southern California, along with our younger sister, Val. Our grandfather, Laszlo, and our grandmother, Isabelle, lived their youth in Ujpest. Laszlo was a Mechanical Engineer and Isabelle was the Hungarian champion for swimming 100 meters crawl (freestyle) and was selected to represent the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. However, she was not allowed to attend the games. Our grandfather died in Germany in the deportation. Our grandmother along with her two children, our father, Paul and his sister, Kati left Hungary in 1946. They spent the next three years in Switzerland. Later, our grandmother would re-marry a Belgian man. In Belgium, our father graduated from both high school and the University, with a degree in Engineering. Paul then left for France to major in Engineering and there he met our mother, Janette at a ball at the University. They got married and came to Los Angeles to follow the “American dream”.
 Coco in Mexico |
-How did the idea come to establish Surf Diva?
-Having grown up by the beach, our father made sure we would learn and love water sports. We surfed almost everyday and we competed on swim teams. At an early age, Izzy also started competing in surfing and would wake our parents up at 5am to go to the beach! She had found her passion. All three of us studied at and graduated from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). There, Izzy became the collegiate girls champion in surfing.
Upon graduation, Izzy worked as the Teen Program Director for the YMCA (Young Men‘s Christian Association) while I worked for a surf company, Reef Brazil. Our professional/career passions were discovered: Izzy loved the ocean and teaching, and I loved business and marketing. In 1996, Izzy decided the ocean needed more girls. She wanted more friends to surf with her so she decided to start teaching. I thought it would be cool to make marketing materials and start a clothing line.
Since then, Surf Diva now has 35 surf instructors and is known as the “1st All-Girls Surf School”. Thousands of women and girls have come through Surf Diva! Two years ago, we created a complete clothing collection and it was introduced to the US market and last month our first international licensee was signed on, “Surf Diva Japan”.
Difficulties in the beginning:
-Was it hard in the beginning to start a surf school for girls?
-Yes. To start any business is difficult and it takes years of hard work, dedication, and passion for it to take off. But, for Izzy it was especially difficult because the guys laughed and said it would never work. They said that girls want to stay on the beach watching the guys surf and that she was going to waste her time. Surfing can be an extreme sport but we teach our students: “The Best Surfer In The Water Is The One Having The Most Fun” so that they are not stressed, afraid, or competitive with each other. When you relax and have fun, you can learn anything! It‘s important that people experience surfing so that they are more aware of nature and how we directly impact our environment with our bad or good habits.
-Where do you teach the girls?
-We selected La Jolla Shores because that‘s where we learned. It‘s also a great beginner beach because it‘s not too dangerous. Some of our students have never seen the ocean before, they are either teenage girls or professional women in their 30‘s wanting to experience something new. We start by square one and we cater to a woman‘s desire to know important details before jumping right into the water. Women seem to appreciate the extra time our instructors take to explain everything from parts of the board, wave riding, and surfing etiquette. We try to make them feel comfortable so that they will understand and appreciate the surfing lifestyle.
 Surf divas on the beach |
-Are there any professional female surfers who usually participate in any of your actions?
-Some of our students are girls who are competing and they need coaching. And, we have collaborated with Rochelle Ballard (the 7th best surfer among the girls in the world) to create an advance surf camp in Southern California. Also, in a few weeks we are doing another camp for girls and some of the pros (Megan Abubo, Holly Beck, Jodie Nelson, Maureen Drummy, Layne Beachley and Keala Kennely as well as Mary Osborne) are coming to teach with us for this special camp.
-How did you get wrapped with the production of Blue Crush?
-Surf Diva is the official surf school on their site. Izzy gave the surfing tips and they linked to our site. Also, the marketing and promotions people at Universal came to Surf Diva to learn about surfing!
The movie opened in the United States on August 16, 2002. It took about a year to arrive to us. Of course you can read about the film before the Hungarian premiere on our site, but till then, you can visit the official homepage of Blue Crush.
